The present disclosure relates to displays. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a worn display, such as a head-mounted display (“HMD”).
A pilot of an aircraft may wear a HMD, such as a helmet-mounted display, that projects information on a display for the pilot. The projected imagery should create a visually coupled system in which the display augments the pilot's view. For example, images or symbols may be overlaid on the display to help the pilot identify objects or locations when looking out the front or side of the aircraft.
Imagery projected on the HMD should preferably be dynamically linked to the orientation of the pilot (e.g., the pilot's head orientation, and/or eye orientation) to create a visually coupled system. In other words, the display should account for the orientation of the pilot in order to accurately display information on the HMD. For example, in situations where the display does not account for the orientation of the pilot, or inaccurately senses the orientation of the pilot, overlaid symbols and imagery may be inaccurate due to latency or otherwise unreliable. Latency between the pilot's actual viewpoint and imagery displayed on the HMD, and the delay in realigning the display configuration, may result in degraded pilot performance. For example, latency may hinder the adaption of pilots to spatial re-arrangements and degrade manual performance, thereby in some instances forcing pilots to slow down to preserve system stability. A delay of even 80 milliseconds from the time the pilot's eyes change position to when the display updates to account for the new position of the pilot's eyes may hinder the pilot's ability to perform a particular task related to tracking an object or location.
A need exists for a visually coupled system having a head orientation tracker (e.g., the controller and sensors) to provide imagery on the display in the correct location and in a timely manner to reduce latency and improve pilot performance. The system and methods describe herein are configured to reduce or completely eliminate latency for a pilot utilizing a wearable display to improve overall pilot performance.